Winning $250,000 lottery ticket sold in Flint on verge of being worthless

FLINT, MI -- A lottery ticket sold nearly a year ago at a market on Flint's south end is on the verge of going from a $250,000 windfall to a worthless piece of paper.

The Michigan Lottery says the Mega Millions ticket was purchased March 29, 2013, at Southend Market, 1701 S. Saginaw St., Flint, and has the numbers "25-31-36-46-53" with a "Gold Mega Ball" number of 21.

But in the months since it was sold, no one has stepped forward to show the winning numbers, something that must be done by the close of business March 31, according to Jeff Holyfield, a lottery spokesman.

"If someone finds it (as late as that day), the first thing they should do is contact us," Holyfield said. "As long as we have the ticket in our hands by 4:45 (p.m.)" the quarter-million dollars will be paid out.

The owner of the market that sold the winning ticket isn't holding out hope.

Southend Market owner Issa Yacoub said today, March 20, that he believes the ticket was probably mistakenly thrown out after the drawing.

A machine in the store that scans tickets to determine if they are winners isn't foolproof, Yacoub said, and could have given a false reading before the ticket-holder assumed it was worthless.

"I believe probably somebody played it here and threw it in the garbage," he said. "I don't think they will ever find it. There's no way somebody would win and not (have) claimed it" by now.

The ticket holder isn't the only one who will lose out if the deadline passes with no claim.

Yacoub stands to get a $2,000 retailer reward if the ticket is claimed.

The Michigan Lottery lists the ticket sold at Southend as one of the most valuable sold in the state and unclaimed as of today, March 20.

The state lists 11 unclaimed tickets with the least-valuable as $50,000 prize sold in Rives Junction. The Flint ticket is the only one on the list from Genesee County.

Holyfield said not every lottery winner comes forward immediately -- even if they are aware of how valuable the ticket they hold is.

"We had a player win over $1 million right before Christmas," he said. "She called and said (she won, but) she decided she wanted to have a normal Christmas (and waited) until after New Year's Day" to claim it.

In another case, a lottery club in Lapeer reported having a winning ticket in early December but did not claim the prize of about $1 million until February as they worked out details of sharing the winnings.

As for the ticket sold in Flint, Holyfield said it's possibly still here too.

"If they find it after lunch on (March 31), they need to come to Lansing" as soon as possible, he said.

Unclaimed prizes go into the state School Aid fund, according to the state Lottery website.

Ron Fonger can be reached at 810-347-9963. You can also follow him on Twitter @ronfonger or subscribe on Facebook.